Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
In comparison to yesterday, the countdown today at Cape Canaveral was almost without excitement. It began at 1 A.M., and the team had to carefully determine the safety and reliability of instrumentation, infrastructure, and the rocket itself after late-night thunderstorms. Just before 7 A.M., the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) began moving away from 327 foot rocket. At about the same time, Launch Weather Officer Kathy Winters declared the range 'red' due to the high clouds. Triboelectrification can result from static electricity imparted from the clouds, resulting in a static barrier that blankets radio signals to and from the rocket.
For the next four hours, the prime team of Ares I-X patiently (on the outside) waited for a gap in the high clouds to launch the first new NASA rocket in 40 years. At 11:30 A.M., the four solid rocket motors flamed into life, pushing the vehicle to an altitude of 24.6 miles. Parachutes carried the Ares I-X to a sea landing almost 150 miles downrange.
For the six minutes from liftoff to splashdown, the prime crew experienced the full range of human emotions. Will I foul up? Will it fly properly? Are things going too well? Did it really fly - I've been dreaming of this moment for years? Then pure, unadulterated joy. It was fun, watching the team on NASA TV and vicariously feeling their pride and jubilation.
Seven hours after the Ares I-X liftoff, I checked several international websites: London Times, China Daily, Japan Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Pravda, and Hong Kong Standard. The only one with coverage of the launch was the London Times. Is it because of waning American influence? Or is the world indifferent to science and technology?
Because life is that way, a report titled, Steady as She Goes? Three Generations of Students Through the Science and Engineering Pipeline was released by professors at Rutgers and Georgetown today. The report explains that American colleges are turning out plenty of college grads in science and engineering. Industry is simply not attracting them - either through salary or opportunity. (Real wages for engineers have declined for the past two decades.) More engineers and scientists are graduated than hired. As I watched the scenes from Cape Canaveral, I wished we could also harness similar passion and excitement for energy, sustainable technologies, etc. Well done, NASA!
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